Frank Mir: I Really Don’t Know If I’ll Return

Former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir has been out of action since a UFC 169 decision loss to Alistair Overeem, where he was outstruck by an incredible margin of 139-5.

It was his fourth straight loss in the Octagon, and most believed the UFC legend had simply fallen behind in the ever-evolving MMA landscape.

Mir hasn’t retired from competition as of yet, and he stills sits at No. 13 in the latest UFC heavyweight rankings. He’s recently been biding his time working to promote MMA in South America, and he isn’t sure if he’ll return to the cage or not. He recently told MMA Fight Corner that he’s weighing the decision with his family:

“I really don’t know. I’m kind of just taking time off and weighing that out,” Mir said. “That’s a decision that me and my family are still trying to – we haven’t come to a conclusive idea yet.”

Mir hasn’t picked up a win since his classic UFC 140 submission over Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira in December 2011. He’s since changed camps to train with Greg Jackson in Albuquerque, but it hasn’t exactly paid off for. Mir said training to beat the best is a fine line that’s hard to get down to an exact science:

“It’s a fine balance between trying not to break something and to fix something that’s broke. So you have to try to not have style drifts that are, ‘well why’s he making this worse now?’. It’s like ‘well, I was trying to make this better, but now I’ve actually taken a step backwards.’.

And at the same time being open-minded to try to let go of certain techniques and to try to learn new ones. It’s constantly a balancing act, constantly a juggling act. You make mistakes and keep going back to the drawing board and try not to be too self-critical to where you actually shut yourself down.”

There’s no doubting that being a fighter in the UFC is one of the toughest jobs in sports. Even though Mir has experienced a steep decline in the tail end of his career, he’s still one of the most decorated heavyweights to grace their roster.

He’ll probably be a Hall of Famer, and there’s not much left for him to prove. A third match with Nogueira has been rumored, but Mir has already finished “Big Nog” twice, and may not return after his UFC Fight Night 39 knockout loss at the hands of Roy “Big Country” Nelson.

But will Mir return? If so, what potential fight would he actually have a chance of winning?